


In the pits of hell

by Neko_ryn



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: I might add more but I think these are the important tags?, Kidnapping, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Nuclear War, Post-War, Sick Character, Slavery, Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-05-26 14:46:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15003119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neko_ryn/pseuds/Neko_ryn
Summary: After the threat of the end of the world with a nuclear war, the governments decide to hide their citizens underground, promising to come for them when everything is stable again, they never come. Generations grow but decadence overcomes the civilization, and the only hope is to get back to the surface and search for help.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my fourth summar project and I'm super excited for this one because I've been planning it every since the Hellevator MV came out, can you believe? I've had some busy times heh I'm really happy to bring you this and I hope you enjoy it a lot!

The beginning of the war had been a surprise for no one as tension had been growing between the nations at an alarming rate, and at that point it was basically impossible to go back to normal. However no one had expected the nuclear bombing, there was no warning, no signs, they just dropped from the sky like rain.

After the first day of destruction and chaos, most governments, including the South Korean, decided it would be for the best to hide their people deep underground, where the effects of the bombs wouldn't be so terrible. The evacuation took days, and millions of lives were lost, but there was still hope: “we’ll come back for you when the war is over”.

And so they did, they went underground and hid, starting a whole new life underground that was far different from what they had known before; in the beginning, they would receive news from the surface and just wait patiently, but at some point, they stopped coming, the communication was lost, and the underground villages were left to thrive on their own.

No one ever returned for them, and now, generations later, everyone has forgotten how the surface looks, what the world really is like. However, these underground civilizations are running out of time, there’s no more resources for a population that keeps growing, and the only option is to risk it all by going to the surface or facing a certain death.

* * *

Woojin’s daily routine always started very early, without exception. He would have a small breakfast consisting of cereal and bread -almost considered a luxury giving the precarious situation the town was in- and then leave to the community’s Resource House to pick up his family’s ration for that day. Even if he woke up early, he usually had to wait in the line for a couple of hours, since the process was delicate and strict to make sure no one would get more than necessary and that resources were not wasted.

Stealing resources had become a crime even worse than murder, and since a few months ago, when the rigorous organization had started, a new law had passed that allowed the community to ask for death sentence for those that stole. Woojin didn’t really mind, he did think it was unfair to steal when everyone was already having a hard time, but he wasn’t about to go and claim someone’s death, he could understand them to a degree after all.

He stood at the beginning of the line and sighed, there was quite a few people in front of him, but at least not as many as the day before; patience was a good virtue to exercise however, so he would just try his best like he did every other day. There were about fifteen minutes left before the Resource House opened, so Woojin sat down on the floor like some others were doing and waited.

“Woojin hyung?” A familiar voice called from above and Woojin turned his head to look.

It was no other than Yang Jeongin, who immediately took a sit beside him once he had confirmed the identity of the oldest. Jeongin was, despite the general environment they lived in, a fairly bright and somewhat mischievous child; his cute appearance and nice personality had gained him the affection of almost everyone in their little town, they all doted on him and Woojin was no exception.

“Oh, you’re here?” The oldest said, patting the head of the youngest softly. “It must be boring having to do these tasks at your age.”

“It’s okay hyung, it’s not that bad, especially when I get to spend time with someone I know, like you!” Jeongin smiled widely, his eyes turning into cute crescents, and Woojin couldn’t help but smile as well.

“That’s a nice attitude!” He laughed, but his attention turned to the rest of the line when people started standing up. “Oh, seems like they’re open, let’s go.” Woojin stood up and helped the youngest to stand up as well. 

It took a couple of hours before they managed to reach the entrance of the Resource House, but once there the process of receiving the supplies went by easily and soon they found themselves standing a few meters away with two bags each. It wasn’t much, but still enough to pass by a day without hunger; although with how things were going, they would soon  have to cut down to two meals a day instead of three.

“Ah hyung, you have to go work right?” Jeongin asked, looking at Woojin after making sure his rations were all complete.

“Yeah, and you have school if I’m not wrong.” The oldest answered, pushing the other softly so that they would start walking.

“Yeah.” He sighed. “School is too boring, I want to do other things.” 

“Believe me, you won’t be saying that when you start to work like me.” Woojin smiled. “Let’s meet after we’re both done with our responsibilities, okay?”

“Sure hyung! See you later then.” Like that, Jeongin ran off in direction to his house, while Woojin took a different route to his.

There wasn’t much to do in the underground city, most people were only able to get the basic education, and after that they would start working somewhere in the town to keep it functioning. That had been Woojin’s situation as well, and it was the case of most people now that they were running out of resources and needed to work extra hard.

Sometimes Woojin wondered if that was also the situation in other underground cities. It was difficult to know since establishing contact was pretty hard and required too much energy, so they didn’t really know much about other towns other than the one they lived at. Either way, he doubted other cities would share resources if they could, adults were just that selfish.

Like that, Woojin got home and left their daily rations on the kitchen, before changing clothes and gathering his tools to go work. He worked at the Energy Central, which was the place in charge of providing energy to all the town so it would function properly; it wasn’t an easy job, but it was probably better than working at the Food Sector, which was pretty much under a crisis.

“I’m going out, I’ll be back by night!” And with that, he left his home.

* * *

“God, I am too young and beautiful for my back to hurt me like this.” Minho said with a slightly sarcastic tone as he worked on eliminating the weeds from the field.

“Young people are best fit for doing this job, if your back hurts then mine is killing me.” Replied one of his coworkers while patting his shoulders sympathetically; he was an older man that had been working at the Food Sector for years now.

“I can imagine. The town should at least give you a work that won’t tire you out as much, but here you are.” Minho sighed, taking a short break and using it to stretch.

“You’re right, but the town needs as many people as possible working over here, plus, we have a huge advantage that no one else has… We’re the only workers able to see actual sunlight, even though this is not exactly what you would call nature.” The old man said, pointing upwards at the big opening that allowed sunlight into the caves.

Minho contemplated the light for a while, and smiled; the surface was basically unknown to him, but at least they had that small treasure in the middle of the vast darkness that the underground town entailed. And he enjoyed it, true light, not like the one produced to illuminate the dying city.

“What you say is nothing else but the truth.” He smiled, and like that they went back to work.

Amid work, chatter and small breaks, the hours passed by and Minho was finally able to call it a day and leave the fields. Instead of going straight home he decided to walk by the Main Plaza to see if he could meet any of his friends; unsurprisingly, he found Jeongin and Woojin sitting by the sidewalk and talking to each other.

There seemed to be a crowd gathering on the other side of the Plaza, but instead of inquiring about it he went straight to join them. Right when he had finished crossing the Plaza to get to his friends, a loud noise accompanied by yelling stole his attention and he turned around to look at the crowd at the other side.

“Minho hyung? What’s going on?” Jeongin asked, him and Woojin standing up and closing the space that was left between them.

“I have no idea.” Minho tried to spot something that would explain the situation, but the people were too close to each other and it was impossible to see through them. “Jeongin, stay here, we’ll go check. Let’s go hyung.”

Without giving Jeongin the chance to protest, Minho grabbed on Woojin’s arm and pulled him along towards the crowd. They managed to make their way up to the front and found a confusing and messy scene: the three heads of the town stood in the middle of the circle, in front of them was a man focused on riling up the crowd with his words, the town leaders didn’t seem too pleased.

“We’re tired of living like this, aren’t we?!” Said the man confronting the town leaders, everyone yelled loudly in response. “We’ve been waiting for decades and we’re still trapped underground, we’re running out of resources! We’re going to die soon and you’re doing nothing about it!”

“We’ve been working hard on better distributing the resources, we’re looking into other solutions.” One of the leaders, a woman, answered calmly, although her eyes said otherwise.

“Other solutions my ass, you’re doing nothing! While we slowly starve to death, talk about being privileged.” The man scoffed, and the crowd, once again, agreed with him.

“Then what do you propose we do? You sure can rile people up but I see you suggesting nothing to better our situation.” Answered another of the leaders.

“Let’s send some people, young men, to the surface.” As soon as those words were out of his mouth, everyone went silence. “Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t thought of it before, if the government said they would come for us, then surely there must be someone out there that can help us! Otherwise we’re condemned for sure.” 

“Sending young men outside? Are you crazy? We can’t allow that!” The woman spoke again, this time looking genuinely angry.

“But isn’t this what the town wants?” The man looked around, and with each word, the rest of the people in the town seemed to agree with him more. “We even have a few candidates already.” He snapped his fingers and two old men that Minho recognized from the fields walked through the crowd and threw a young boy at the floor.

“Changbin!” The voice of a woman echoed through the crowd, it sounded desperate, she was probably his mother.

“Isn’t that your friend?” Woojin whispered to Minho, pointing right at the boy that was still lying down on the floor. Minho nodded in response.

“Honestly, rich scumbags like this one shouldn’t even be allowed to be in a town of poor people.” The man placed a foot on top of Changbin, making him grunt. 

Minho was about to intervene when he saw another young boy running into the center and pushing the rioter away from Changbin, and then standing right in front to cover him. If he was right, that was none other than Kim Seungmin; Minho didn’t know him well, but he was good friends with Jeongin and Changbin.

The old man causing all the ruckus grinned and pushed Seungmin away, going right back to try and beat them both, that was when Minho finally stepped out and pulled the man away with enough force to make him stagger.

“Stop it, will you? You’re making a fool of yourself.” Minho said, helping Seungmin and Changbin up.

“Well, I guess we have three candidates now, I’m sure two more should close the deal, right?” The man looked at the town leaders with a grin, everyone around them was yelling, the pressure was such that it was basically impossible to say no, so they didn’t reply.

“I’ll go as well.” Woojin spoke from his place among the crowd, walking into the center and standing right next to Minho, he just couldn’t let his friend go like that.

“I’ll go too!” A painfully familiar, young voice spoke from the crowd and in a matter of minutes Jeongin made his way into the center of the crowd, standing right next to Woojin.

“No you won’t, you’re staying Jeongin.” Minho said before Woojin could even open his mouth.

“When you’re leaving me behind like that? I have to refuse, I’m going too.” Jeongin insisted, crossing his arms tightly over his chest.

“I think it’s a great idea, a good for nothing like him has no use in this town; now that everyone has doted on him because of his cute looks I think it’s a good time he repays by doing something for this town.” The rioter spoke, cutting their discussion short. The pain in the youngest’s expression made the two oldest tense up. “I guess we have our five candidates now, don’t we? Anything to say about that, town leaders?”

The three of them kept quiet, they couldn’t speak or defend the five boys standing on the center, not when everyone in town seemed to have lost every bit of rationality left to them to panic.

“Well then, it’s decided, the five of you are leaving the underground, congratulations.” The man said, looking at the crowd that raged with happiness for the decision.

Woojin closed his hands tightly and said nothing, not even the town leaders were on their side, there was no turning back now.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving the underground for the first time in their lives had been pretty weird, none of them had seen other plants that weren’t the crops of the fields or animals that weren’t for domestic use or company. The surface was much hotter than their underground city, and the brightness of the sun hurt their eyes because they weren’t used to being exposed to it in such a way; they had spotted a few small animals like birds and different types of rodents, as well as seen trees for the first time. But what had fascinated them the most were the ruins of what one time had been the cities their ancestors had inhabited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is here! I'm sorry for posting so late, I kept falling asleep and I just couldn't focus at all on the chapter because I was feeling really tired, it's done now though so please enjoy!

After the long discussion at the Main Plaza, the five of them had been locked up inside the town’s council building, to make sure they wouldn’t try to go into hiding or run away from what had now become their destiny. They were sitting at what seemed like a living room, since there were a lot of couches and a couple of coffee tables, but it was most probably used as some sort of meeting room for more intimate and secretive matters.

For most of them, that was the most expensive furniture they had seen in their lives, and the feeling of unfairness churned inside their stomach; they couldn’t help but understand the actions of the people that had put them in that situation, even if it still felt quite unfair, but at least they understood.

They had been given a few blankets and pillows to arrange for sleeping there that night; the next day they would be given some supplies and then sent outside to start their search for hope, with no idea whatsoever of what they would find out there. Silence and tension occupied the room while they observed each other; Changbin was looking directly at the ground, a purple bruise slowly becoming more evident on his left cheek, quite probably due to the townsfolk taking him by force of his own home.

Both Minho and Seungmin were looking at him like they wanted to tell him something, but neither had spoken one word since arriving to the building; on the other hand, Jeongin was staring at Woojin intently, but the oldest did his best to ignore him. Mostly out of anger for what had happened outside, but also because he felt sorry the youngest had heard those hurtful words, he didn’t deserve them after all.

“Woojin hyung.” Jeongin was the first to break the silence, making everyone turn to look at him, except for Woojin. “Are you still angry at me? For what happened out there?” He asked, looking quite displeased himself.

“What do you think Jeongin?” The oldest answered, finally looking at the other. He was frowning, which was rare on him, and it made Jeongin feel somewhat guilty, but he wasn’t going to budge so easily. “Why did you offer yourself? We don’t know how dangerous it is out there and you’re going to put yourself on the line just like that? Aren’t you being too careless?”

“Then what did you want me to do?! My best friends are all going to be sent to the surface without anything assuring me you’ll be able to come back, let alone survive.” Jeongin raised his voice, everyone else couldn’t help but be at least a little surprised at his reaction, he had never been one to act up. “Did you really expect me to just let you go like that? Without trying to join you?”

“I understand how you feel, but you’re throwing your life away by doing this! You’re only seventeen Jeongin, there’s so much waiting for you and the only way to be sure you’ll even get a chance in life is if you stay here, why can’t you understand that?” Woojin raised his voice as well, and at this point Minho was ready to intervene, but he didn’t quite know how.

“Right, like twenty-one years is that much right?” The youngest snapped. He felt quite conflicted, he didn’t want to hurt his friend but he just didn’t want to listen to his hurtful words either. “I have no family waiting for me out there, you know that well, and you heard what that old man said, I’m just leeching off of everyone here.” His voice went down, anger replaced by hurt almost in the blink of an eye. “There’s nothing for me left here, this city is dying, I’d much rather be with the four of you, you’re basically all I have left.”

“Jeongin, you know that is a lie, everyone takes care of you because we like you, you’re not being a leech… I just, I want you to be safe, do you at least understand that?” Woojin had also quieted down, his defenses destroyed when he say the look in Jeongin’s eyes after talking about them and his family; he realized there was no worth in hindering their friendship for something so silly.

“I know hyung.” Jeongin sighed, standing up to pick up a blanket and pillow for himself. “Let’s just drop this, we need to sleep for tomorrow.”

“Jeongin…” Woojin started, but Minho’s hand on his arm made him realize there was just no use trying to say anything else, so he let things be and soon everyone went to sleep.

* * *

The next day they were abruptly woken up by around ten men that were following the orders of the rioter that had condemned to this in the first place. Each of them were given a somewhat worn-out backpack with food supplies that were supposed to last them a month, and after that they were taken through the town to a small house that seemed too run down to be considered a proper part of the town anymore.

The town’s council member that had tried to defend them before, a tall woman with short black hair, was waiting for them right outside the small house; she seemed visibly concerned, but stood solemnly at the entrance anyway, she was the only person aside from the small group of rioters to be there to see them off, their families had probably been kept away to avoid a ruckus.

“You’re here…” The woman spoke, approaching them the last few steps that were left. “I’m really sorry this is happening, it was not meant to go like this.”

“Are you really?” Changbin muttered, those were the first words they had heard from him since the events of the previous evening. The woman sighed and shook her head, it was not worth it to start a discussion regarding the situation.

“Aside from food, there should be other things like flashlights and fire starters. We don’t really know about the conditions out there, so we tried to gather as many tools as we could, but we can’t really say if that will be enough.” She explained. “Inside this house there’s a short tunnel that leads to a ladder, contrary to the exterior the ladder is actually in good state, don’t worry about that. The ladder will take you to the surface, but from there on I don’t know much, so all I can do is wish you good luck.”

After she finished explaining, she unlocked the house and opened the door for them. The space inside was small and it seemed to have been made for some sort of guard, but everything seemed to have been abandoned a long time ago; right at the furthest wall was another door, the town council member walked in before them and opened the second door, which led to a somewhat dark, small tunnel, just like she had said before.

The men that had taken them there pushed the five of them into the house, and waited for the woman to be out before closing back the small watch house. They stood in there for a moment, in complete silence before Minho decided to venture into the tunnel and the rest followed him closely. The room at the other side was directly carved out from stone and soil, and there was a single ladder that extended to the sky, where glints of real sunlight could be spotted.

“Before we go out there…” Changbin spoke, gaining the attention of everyone else. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry for pulling everyone into this mess, I didn’t think anyone would actually step in to help me.”

“Hyung…” Seungmin said, looking at him with a serious face before cracking a smile. “Stop being so lame and let’s get going.” He teased, patting the other’s shoulder while the others tried to suppress their laugh.

“Brat! I was trying to be sincere here.” Changbin pouted, and for the first time Woojin saw something more than a serious facade of his.

“It’s okay Changbin, he was probably trying to help us relax, after all we’re leaving for the surface… We’re the first of our city to do so.” Minho said, tossing Changbin’s hair before walking towards the ladder. “I’ll go first, the rest can just follow me, let’s go.”

* * *

Leaving the underground for the first time in their lives had been pretty weird, none of them had seen other plants that weren’t the crops of the fields or animals that weren’t for domestic use or company. The surface was much hotter than their underground city, and the brightness of the sun hurt their eyes because they weren’t used to being exposed to it in such a way; they had spotted a few small animals like birds and different types of rodents, as well as seen trees for the first time.

But what had fascinated them the most were the ruins of what one time had been the cities their ancestors had inhabited. The place they had come out from wasn’t entirely destroyed, but it was completely abandoned and falling apart by itself, invaded by nature and whatnot. They knew, from what they had learned at school, that their underground city of Yongin wasn’t far away from what once had been Seoul, the capital of their country, which had been the direct victim of one of the nuclear bombs.

The first few days were quite difficult since they were still adapting with no clear idea of where to go to; they would walk almost the whole day, taking breaks to eat and regain energy, and at night they would set up a little camp to rest so they could go on the next day. It was quite tiring, but somehow their fascination for the surface kept them going; plus, if there was so much plantlife and so many animals running around, it meant a high chance of finding other humans as well.

It wasn’t until the fourth day that they met animals that were bigger than a rabbit or a rat. They had been walking through the city as usual when they heard noises coming from the other side of the street: there was a pack of around seven dogs rummaging around the ruins. They were big, although thin from the lack of proper food as well as in a bad state. 

“Hyung, the dogs are looking at us.” Jeongin whispered, grabbing Woojin’s arm to claim his attention.

“It’s okay, just ignore them and keep walking.” The oldest answered, stealing a glance towards the dogs and pushing the youngest to keep walking. The dogs, that had been looking at them for a couple of minutes, starting approaching them and also growling, which was certainly not a good sign. 

“Hyung…” Jeongin repeated, and Woojin nodded.

“I know… Fuck, run!” He yelled, and the others started to run immediately. 

Even though the dogs were in such bad condition, they were still fast runners and started to close on them quite easily. The safest option was to get somewhere high were they couldn’t be reached, and since running towards buildings seemed too risky, Woojin decided a tree would be far safer.

“Minho! Get them on a tree!” Woojin yelled, as he stopped running for a moment to pick what seemed to be like a broken pipe from the ground, it was somewhat heavy, but good enough for his purposes.

“What?!” Minho yelled back, unsure if he had heard properly.

“Get them on a fucking tree!” He yelled again, and when he saw them stop in front of a sturdy tree, he stopped running too at a safe distance and turned towards the dogs.

The first swing rendered one of the dogs unconscious, since Woojin had hit its head; this made the rest of the dogs more careful towards him but they continue to surround him. He swung the pipe again, missing one of the dogs by little, which immediately proceeded to jump on him, although Woojin was able to throw it away by hitting its side with the pipe. 

This made him lose his balance and one of the dogs bit on his leg, causing him to shout in pain; he tried to intimidate it with the pipe but it didn’t work, and he could feel some blood dripping down his leg as the dog bit harder to latch onto him. The lack of control over his leg eventually made him lose balance and he fell on the floor, the other dogs started attacking him as well, and his only option was to protect his face and chest with his arms.

“Hyung!” He couldn’t quite tell who was screaming, but that didn’t matter.

“Don’t come down! Just stay there!” He yelled back, doing his best to not panic, but things weren’t going quite well for him.

And then, all of a sudden, the dog that was trying to get to his face wasn’t there anymore, and he could hear the pained howls of the dogs as something hit them and scared them away, until every single one of them had stopped trying to attack Woojin. 

“Are you alright?” An unfamiliar voice asked, and Woojin immediately uncovered his face, meeting eyes with someone he had never seen in his life.

“Chan hyung! Jisung! Where did you go?” Another unfamiliar voice could be heard from the distance.

“Over here Hyunjin, Felix! We found people!” The man right in front of him answered, he was panting but smiled nonetheless. Woojin suddenly thought there was indeed hope after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave a comment if you liked it since it motivates me a lot~ You can also send me a message on my social media:
> 
> [Tumblr](http://not-majestic-bluenicorn.tumblr.com)   
>  [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/soft_bluenicorn)


	3. Very Important Announcement (Seriously, please read)

So, as some of you might know from talking to me or the replies in your comments, I’ve been having a somewhat hard time personally because a lot of things have happened since the start of July, both in my country and in my personal life. Don’t worry, I am not writing this to tell you I’ll stop updating all my stories, but there  _ has _  been a change in my schedule and since I’ll start college soon I figured it would be best to make things clear right now.

First of all, I  _ am _  going to cancel one my stories, that is Lost in the dream, a MONSTA X fanfic I started over a month ago but have not updated since. There’s a very simple reason: it’s terrible, mediocre. I love the idea and it was one of the fics I was the most excited to write but in the end, no matter how hard I try, I hate the first chapter and haven’t been able to continue writing the rest of the fic. Because of this, I will eliminate the story of my ao3, try to fix it and come back with it at a later time.

The second, and the most important thing out of it all: I am changing the schedule for the other fanfics. I don’t know why I thought I could bear the stress and responsibility of writing five different stories a week, it clearly did not work, but because I don’t want to suspend some in favor of others I’ve come up with a schedule. One week I’ll update two stories and the next one I’ll update the other two, and so on; I will always update on Wednesdays and Fridays.

I believe this will allow me to write better, it will give me more time to edit (you might have noticed but I don’t really edit my stories because I always finish writing the chapters the day I’m supposed to post them) and therefore will also give better quality to the chapters. You all have been showing a lot of love to my stories and deserve nothing but quality writing from me to enjoy the trip; I do apologize for my lame attempt at being a responsible writer.

I am writing this on a very sunny Saturday, July 28, so I will be starting with this new schedule by next week with Reflection on Wednesday and In the pits of hell on Friday. I hope you can understand my decision to do this and that you will continue to enjoy whichever of my stories it is that you enjoy.

Thank you a lot for all the lovely comments you have left in my stories as well, they do truly motivate me to continue writing, it’s just that life is a bit unfair at times and I’m terrible at dealing with that.

Thanks for reading this very important notice, have a nice day ^^


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was another thing that felt strange. While they all knew about the war and what had happened, the books they had used to learn while underground showcased a Korea completely different from what it was now. Everything they knew collapsed under the abandoned buildings, the dust and the growing vegetation taking up the scenery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I am finally back with ITPOH, I know it's been a very, very long time since I last posted and I really wanted to get down to it but things had been a little bit difficult and I just couldn't get down to work on this, but I am finally back! I truly hope you enjoy this chapter as we'll be seeing more interactions between the nine of them this time. Don't forget to leave your comments since they truly mean a lot to me! And now, enjoy!

The sky is dark by the time the boys from the surface take them to what seems to be a made up camping site. There’s a lot of tents shared by a group of at least twenty people that vary in gender and age; two of the boys, Chan and Hyunjin, help take Woojin to one of the bigger tents where his bite wounds are treated carefully. They’re not infected, thankfully, but it still hurts him quite a lot to get them treated and ends up just falling asleep from all the pain and exhaustion.

Felix and Jisung take the rest of them towards the center of the campsite; there's a small group of people there preparing to set up a couple of fires, and around them there's a few made-up benches with logs and debris that make up an imperfect circle. Felix tells them to sit down for a moment while they finish setting up the camp because they need to get it done before the sun finishes setting.

It does take a while but finally the fires are lit and more people gather around them to heat up, and while nighttime wasn't quite freezing, you could very well get sick sleeping outside with no source of heat. The four of them remain silent as they watch the people who just rescued them settle around the camp, ready to discuss whatever they're doing for the next day and taking a well-deserved rest.

“Here you go.” Jisung's voice startled them out of their observations by offering them some canned food. “Eat well, it's on the house.” He chuckles, and Felix does too.

“It's not like this is a restaurant or something...” He replies, finding the awkwardness of the newcomers quite funny.

“Thank you, for helping us back there and for the food as well.” Minho said, naturally taking his protective role. They had saved them, yes, but it was still an unknown and unsafe situation.

“It's alright. We were just scouting the area when we heard the commotion, Chan hyung refused to not check what it was and help, he's just like that.” Jisung said, shrugging ever so slightly. “I'm glad we got there in time.”

“Do you know how Woojin hyung is?” Jeongin asked, interrupting the conversation and earning himself a warning glare from Minho.

“Ah well, just wait for the other two to get here, they must know about his condition.” Jisung answered calmly, albeit a bit awkwardly since he had been taken aback by the straightforward question.

Silence took over their conversation and they went on eating their dinner, awkwardness setting around them until Chan and Hyunjin arrived and sat with them, ready to speak with the newcomers. They seemed to be in a good mood, so the others took that as good news regarding Woojin, but the youngest had to ask to make sure anyway.

“He's fine, don't worry.” Chan assured, a strange feeling of fondness present in his voice. “He fell asleep from exhaustion, but the injuries weren't too deep and they didn't get infected, so he will be fine.”

Everyone immediately felt relieved after hearing about Woojin's condition and were able to enjoy their dinner in a lighter mood, finally speaking up with the others and initiating a casual conversation that eventually ended up in questions about their identities and the reasons they were out in the surface.

“Well...” Minho said, vaguely. "It's a bit complicated to say, we come from one of those underground cities created during the war, but things are starting to go awry down there.” He tried to explain.

“You don't have to be so vague, hyung.” Seungmin said, joining the conversation. “There's a shortage of resources down there, but we have no knowledge of the surface, so we were sent in a forced mission to find civilization and ask for help.” He explained with a sigh.

“You're pretty much the closest we've come to our goal, but you're also in movement like us.” Changbin continued. “Are you from an underground city as well?” 

“Well, this is good news for you, because we're not!” Felix said, a bit too excitedly, and nudging Chan to explain more in detail.

“Yeah, we're not from the underground, all the people you see here actually came from surface cities, so hey, there's hope for you!” Chan said, nodding with a smile at the look in the others' faces.

“This is probably the only good that has come from this awful trip.” Jeongin murmured.

They all laughed, feeling light and somewhat at peace. While it had been full of wonders and surprises to travel an unknown place on their own, the past four days had been difficult for a group of young men that had always spent their lives tied to a severe schedule that was supposed to ensure their survival, but that restricted their lives.

“There's a problem though.” Hyunjin intervened, not having joined them in their laughs. “While we're not going through a resource shortage or anything similar, things have changed a lot since the times Korea was a republic... Things aren't so smooth anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Minho asked, suddenly turning serious. “I mean, it's not like we expected something different from the text books, but it can't be that bad can it?” Minho stared Hyunjin down, expecting an answer, however this one never came since Chan interrupted.

“Okay, I think it's time to go to sleep.” He said, standing up. “I'm pretty sure we're all tired and it's not a good time to talk about these things, let's wait until tomorrow when your friend is up to discuss this, okay?”

“Why? Are you hiding something?” Seungmin said, standing up as well. The behavior seemed way too suspicious.

Chan sighed and sat down again, he looked at his friends who seemed anxious and uncomfortable and then sighed once more. He could understand perfectly well the distrust of the other four, but he only could because he distrusted them just as much, it was difficult to believe a story such as them coming from the underground after all.

“You don't trust us either, do you?” Minho said, quick witted. “You say there're cities in the surface but yet you're out here, living in the wild, so something must have happened.” He sighed, frustrated. “Okay, that's fair, we don't trust each other, but you have to believe us.”

“That's a bit rich coming from someone who refuses to trust us either and wants their questions answered to.” Hyunjin cut in.

“Well, we answered your questions didn't we? We can only expect as much.” Seungmin bit back, getting more annoyed every second.

“Okay, let's stop here and take a deep breath.” Chan said, interrupting the discussion before it could escalate anymore. “I'll explain, so please calm down?” Seungmin sits back down and nods, trying to keep himself in check.

“We're listening.” Minho said, signaling that he could start.

“So... Everyone here does come from a populated city, but the thing is that we escaped that place. You see, things have changed a lot from the Korea you see in textbooks, what once was a united nation is now just a bunch small governments scattered around in fortresses.” Chan explains, taking his time to make sure everyone understands. “The problem with that is that the governments have become sort of dictatorships, the system is arranged into such a strict hierarchy it's almost impossible to live there...”

They let the information sink in, understanding why they had been so reluctant to telling them, after all they had come out of the underground looking for help but it didn't seem like anyone was willing to offer it to them.

“I see... Thank you, for telling us.” Minho said after a while, sighing at how negative the situation seemed.

“I'm sorry, for getting aggressive.” Seungmin said, but Hyunjin shook his head and dismissed it.

“Let's go to sleep now, okay? Tomorrow we can talk about what to do.” Chan suggested for a second time and no one opposed this time.

They stood up and returned to the tents, their shoulders sagged with exhaustion and defeat, but no one mentioned it. Inside the tent that had been lent to them, they found Woojin deeply asleep and settled down; they observed him breathe as he slept for a while, before Jeongin started speaking.

“Does this mean we left and put ourselves in risk for nothing?” He says, something like anger bubbling under his voice. “Hyung even got hurt and now it turns out there's no hope for us.”

“Don't say that, Jeongin...” Changbin interrupted him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “They we would discuss what to do tomorrow, besides, I doubt they would run away without a plan, there must be something that can be done.”

“I agree, plus and if ultimately there's nothing then we can at least said we tried.” Minho added, smiling. “Don't look so defeated, if even the youngest loses all hope then what are we supposed to do, huh?” He pulled Jeongin closer, hugging him tightly and tickling him, trying to improve his mood.

Jeongin couldn't help but laugh hysterically, to the point Seungmin had to cover his mouth because he was being to loud; eventually the oldest let go of him, patting his back softly, smiling to himself. They arranged themselves to sleep and eventually dozed off, carried away by exhaustion and a stomach full from dinner.

Minho stayed awake a little more, thinking to himself. He couldn't help but doubt the strangers a little still, but they had seemed sincere, so they would have to trust them at least for the time being, until they could finally found a source of hope that could help their city, even if they had been betrayed and thrown out by those they were trying to help.

* * *

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, Minho briefed Woojin on the situation and what they had discovered about the group of deserters while everyone else helped disassemble the camp, so they could move on. It only took about an hour before they were done and ready to go, and that was when they decided to talk to sort things out.

“So... What is your plan? Minho said you escaped from your government, you must have plan right?” Woojin said, sitting with Chan on one of the made-up benches that had been settled around the fires the night before.

“Yeah, and it's what I wanted to discuss with you, with all of you.” Chan nodded, taking a deep breath. “You see, I know I said there wasn't much hope for you and the underground city you come from, and it is true.” He said, feeling sorry after seeing the disappointment in their faces. “However I can offer you one option; right now we're headed towards Haenam, a city located at the other side of Korea.”

“Haenam? Why there? What is special about that place?" Jeongin asked, interrupting the conversation out of impulse.

“Well, as far as we know there's only seven fortresses in Korea, Haenam is one of them.” Jisung took on the explanation. “We can't confirm it, but we've heard it's the richest among all the cities, and also the only place willing to take refugees.”

“Yes, it's just as Jisung said... We can't assure you they'll help you but it's really your only hope if you don't want your efforts to be in vain.” Chan said, looking at Woojin straight in the eye and waiting for some reaction.

Woojin considered their options in silence for a while. He looked at his friends, the ones he had joined in this doomed trip, and after a while he sighed and nodded, there was really no other option aside from joining Chan and the group of deserters, even if it seemed like a dangerous decision.

“Okay then, I don't think there's anything else to say.” Woojin started. “Can we join you on your way to Haenam?”

“Thought you'd never ask.” Chan replied, a small smile showing on his lips as he patted Woojin on the arm and stood up. “Well then, let's get going, we have already lost a lot of time.”

Everyone agreed and soon they set off. There was something strange about traveling with nearly twenty-five people instead of just the five of them; however it also felt less lonely and less confusing to travel with people that actually knew what was going on anymore.

There was another thing that felt strange. While they all knew about the war and what had happened, the books they had used to learn while underground showcased a Korea completely different from what it was now. Everything they knew collapsed under the abandoned buildings, the dust and the growing vegetation taking up the scenery.

“I'm surprised your city managed to make it.” Hyunjin said after a while.

“What do you mean?” Changbin, who was walking the closest to him, was the one to reply.

“Well, the third bomb actually fell on Seoul, from what I could understand you haven't been traveling for long, and we're currently in what should be Yongin. We're pretty close to the site of the bombing.” He explained, gesturing to his back in the direction of the bomb site.

“Oh... I guess we were lucky.” Changbin replied, looking to where his hands had pointed and giving a single nod.

“Yeah, I guess you were.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave a comment and to talk to me on my Tumblr [@not-majestic-bluenicorn](http://not-majestic-bluenicorn.tumblr.com) and on my Twitter [@soft_bluenicorn](http://www.twitter.com/soft_bluenicorn)! I have also created a [Curious Cat](http://www.curiouscat.me/soft_bluenicorn) for all of you shy people~
> 
> If you send me a message telling me who you are in the comments, I'll follow back!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they walk through the remnants of the city, the slight vibrations of the ground stop them in their tracks and they look at each other, the muted roaring-like sound barely gets to them before they see the enormous wave of water come at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am finally back!! Well, somewhat, but anyways, I'll explain at the ending notes, just enjoy the chapter!!

A couple of days pass since they have joined the group of surface travelers and, although slightly awkward, they have learned a lot about the surface world and how it works. Korea has changed into more of a region than a country, there's nothing like a unified nation anymore and people have gathered into small towns most of the time and sometimes into big city-states, fortified and wary of strangers. Most of what used to be important cities have become abandoned places with nothing more than ruins, especially those close to the bombsites.

“How have you been surviving if you're always traveling around? I mean, regarding food and all that.” Jeongin asks at some point, walking behind Chan.

“Whenever we encounter a small town we ask for food and some resources, although sometimes we have to steal because they don't want to cooperate, which is alright, but we can't afford to die so...” He explained, feeling slightly guilty for teaching something like that to such a young kid, although he wasn't much older anyway.

“We try not to do that much though, don't worry.” Another man that was walking next to them added after noticing the face Chan had made.

“I see... I guess sometimes we have to do things we don't like to survive.” Jeongin shrugs. “After all we were sent out here by our neighbors and friends, and I don't think it was the right thing to do, but they need to find ways to survive.”

Chan nods, finding it kind of sad knowing what had happened to them and the reasons they were in the surface when no one had abandoned the underground in years. They continued walking in silence for the most part, words surfacing here and there as more questions were asked and replies were given. Despite the initial conflict that had surfaced between the two groups, they were starting to get along quite well, especially Changbin who had quickly thrown away his serious image and had started to joke around with the others.

Woojin had also started talking a lot with Chan, somehow being the oldest in their respective groups had given them a common ground to talk and get acquainted; Chan was also a great support to Woojin whose leg still hurt quite a lot from the dog's bite, so they often walked side by side, although sometimes the others took turns helping him walk.

As the night approached and the sky went dark, they chose a nice spot between some trees to establish their campsite for the night. Tasks were divided and soon most of the tents had been raised and the fire to eat dinner had been started; they reunited around the fireplace after they were done and shared their food supplies, dinner was far more comfortable and cheerful than it had been before as the newcomers found their place among the group. Once they finished dinner and the sky had become completely dark, they retired to their tents and went to sleep, they had to be ready for the start of a new day after all.

It starts to rain very early in the morning, the soft sound of rain against the tents doesn’t wake them up until it becomes too loud as it worsens and the humidity of the ground forces them to move. Under the directions of Chan and a couple more people they start packing everything up and decide to move somewhere else before the place floods due to the excessive amount of water. The rain makes the task difficult, but they eventually manage to get ready and start moving; it doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop soon, and if they find it a bit strange no one mentions it.

As they walk through the remnants of the city, the slight vibrations of the ground stop them in their tracks and they look at each other, the muted roaring-like sound barely gets to them before they see the enormous wave of water come at them. There’s screaming as they struggle to get on top of trees or just hold onto something as the water crashes against them, taking everything that isn’t tightly holding onto something.

Chan holds onto Woojin tightly and drags him towards a tree despite the complaints of the oldest, there’s barely any time to climb, so he pushes the oldest up urgently; Woojin is received by another person who finishes pulling him all the way up despite his cries of pain. Chan doesn’t manage to finish climbing before the water hits the tree, so he just stays there, holding for dear life as he feels the tree shake from the sheer force. The water doesn’t hit him directly thanks to the trunk, but they can still feel the force of it and manage to get wet as well, it’s only by the combination of luck and adrenaline that they don’t get taken away.

“What about the others?!” Woojin yells at him, trying to reach Chan and help him up, but the other person on the tree stops him.

“I’m sorry!” Is all Chan can manage to say, unable to check for the others through the chaos.

Time passes slowly as the rain calms down and eventually the water level goes down, not so aggressive anymore. Everything happens quickly as they all abandon their refuges and look for each other to check if anyone got hurt. Minho immediately looks for Woojin, worried that his injured leg hadn’t let him get to a safe place.

“Hyung! Woojin hyung! Where are you?!” He doesn’t mind the water getting into his shoes or the cold.

“Minho!” Woojin replies after a moment, staggering towards his friend as soon as Chan lets him go. “Where are the others?” 

“I don’t-” Minho starts, but he’s suddenly interrupted by the youngest, who had just run to their encounter followed by Seungmin and Changbin.

“We’re fine! Don’t worry, we’re okay.” Changbin immediately says, trying to calm everyone’s nerves down. “Are you hurt?”

Next to them Chan is checking on Felix while Jisung leans on Hyunjin, one of his legs in pain as the rush of the moment had caused him to get cut. The other people in the camp act the same, finding their friends and loved ones among the chaos; but in the end, when they count each other, there are still three people missing and no reply to their names.

Rain continued falling over them, filling the air with a soft murmur that went on eternally as they gathered themselves and tried to come up with words to fill the silence. Eventually, after Chan had finished making sure his closest friends were alright, he approached another man and spoke to him in whispers that nobody managed to understand.

“We have to keep moving, the rain hasn't stopped so this could occur again… We don't have much time to look for a refuge so let's go now.” He pushed his friends softly in direction to the city so the rest would start moving after them. “I am sorry, for those of you who lost someone today.”

Minho grabs onto Woojin’s arm and makes the oldest lean on him, he pushes Jeongin and Seungmin so they walk in front of him and asks Changbin to help him carry Woojin. Chan offers his help as well, but they convince him of just guiding the group and set off like that. The mud makes the floor incredibly slippery and it takes an incredible amount of effort for them to not fall more than a couple times, but eventually the mud turns into concrete as they reach the parts of the city that are less destroyed and walking becomes easier to them.

The group felt smaller, like they have all come close together to its center as they walk. They enter the main part of the city like that, huddled together and grabbing on each other's arms and hands; Woojin notices a couple of people crying to his left and he supposes they're friends of those who got taken away by the current, he feels grateful that his own friends are there with him and not stranded somewhere else.   
  
“Our best option right now is a building that has at least a second floor, I have no idea how resilient the buildings around here are since we're on the Seoul area, but we don't have much choice so...” Chan told the group after a while when the rain started to worsen again, trying to make their situation clear to everyone. “Just a bit more, hang in there.”   
  
Taller buildings finally came into sight after a few more minutes of walking, but with them, they noticed a somewhat big group of feral dogs prowling around the streets. It was like pressing a switch, the dogs started chasing them as soon as they spotted them, not caring about the difference in group size. Chan urged them to run to the opposite side of the street when the same sound of before appears before them, like the earth itself was roaring.   
  
Panic invades the group and they push each other to get into the building when they notice the water coming at them just like last time. Chan, who had been leading the group, gets in first and tries to hold the doors open but it becomes difficult and chaotic, he loses Felix and Hyunjin in the crowd but manages to see how Minho makes his way through carrying Woojin and pulling Changbin along.   
  
The water eventually crashes at them and Chan sees with his own eyes as three or four people get swept by it, along with the dogs that had been chasing them. A woman screams behind him and tries to get out to go after someone, but Chan pushes her back and closes the door in a futile attempt to get the water to stop coming in through it.   
  
“Everyone upstairs!” He yells, and starts to push people towards the stairs urgently as the first floor floods. He doesn't think it will flood much, but better safe than sorry.   
  
Chan is the last one to go upstairs, he finds everyone sitting on the floor in small groups, soaking wet and trying to get warm, it wouldn't be surprising if all of them got sick. He immediately spots Felix, Hyunjin and Jisung sitting a bit to the side and goes to them; Jisung is sitting with his jeans folded upwards as Hyunjin checks on his cut, which doesn't seem to have gotten infected.   
  
A little further away, Minho is carefully checking on Woojin who has fallen asleep from exhaustion and has a bit of a fever, but other than that seems fine; next to him Jeongin, Changbin and Seungmin cuddle together for warmth and try to relax now that they know they're somewhat safe. Outside the building, rain keeps falling and feeding the current, and it doesn't seem like it'll stop soon.   
  
“Let's stay here until the rain stops definitely, we can't risk going out in this weather.” A man said, and everyone agreed with their silence.   
  
“That's the wisest decision.” Chan said as he stood up. “Let's put all our resources apart and try to see if there's anything that got completely ruined by the rain. We don't know for how long we'll be here so let's just make the best use out of everything.”   
  
Everyone complies, and they leave their backpacks and bags on the next floor to keep them away from the little puddles they have made on the second level, after that they focus on trying to get dry so they can sleep more comfortably. It takes a while but everyone eventually settles down on shared sleeping bags and humid blankets and goes to sleep.

They spend the next few days stranded in the building. With careful organization and cooperation from everyone involved they make the food last enough to survive there for a week; by the third day the rain becomes nothing more than a light drizzle, and by the fourth they're able to leave the building, encountering a world covered in puddles, mood and remains of trees and buildings that didn't have much luck. 

Minho covers Jeongin’s eyes when they encounter the body of one of the travelers that had been taken away by the flood, but he can't protect him of the screaming and crying that comes after. He can only hope this won't mark him forever as they continue walking down the street in search of a better place to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am, I hope you liked the chapter! I know it's a big mess, but I've been writing this chapter for weeks now so keeping a continuous flow was very hard :c I'm really sorry for not updating any of my fics recently, between school and work I spend more than 16 hours away of home and I get little to no free time so writing has become really hard, but I have not given up, it's just that updates will be incredibly slow and there's really nothing much I can do about it until I can buy myself a tablet (because I hate writing on the phone and I can't take my laptop with me everyday), hopefully that'll be soon and I'll be able to update more often. Again, I apologize for taking so long, I feel really bad about it :c
> 
> You can go yell at me for taking so long on my Tumblr [@not-majestic-bluenicorn](https://not-majestic-bluenicorn.tumblr.com) or on my Twitter [@soft_bluenicorn](https://www.twitter.com/soft_bluenicorn), and hell, even [Curious Cat](https://www.curiouscat.me/soft_bluenicorn) if you want!


	6. An announcement and an apology

Hello dear readers of mine. I come here with an announcement and a deep apology.

First of all, no, I'm not abandoning any of my fanfics, but I have to make a choice. My life has gotten too busy for me to handle and sadly I have to choose my responsibilities over the things I love, which is writing. However I do not want to give it up so I'm planning to do a dynamic. I tried to join NaNoWriMo this year but I failed miserably cause November is the busiest month of the semester, however I realized I'm able to write around a chapter in just a couple of hours perfectly fine so I decided I want to try doing something for December.

This is what I want to do: I want you to vote for the fanfic you want me to work on, and for the whole month of December I will be working non-stop on it, trying to put out a chapter every day if possible, with the intention of finishing the fanfic in December and making it a little less heavy for me. I know this is really unfair and I feel extreme sorry about this, but I just can't, I really tried but it's just too hard, and I understand now I was too ambitious.

I truly hope this won't upset too many of you guys and that you continue reading my fics in the future, I can understand if you don't. Again, my deepest apologies.

Here’s the link for the poll: [link](https://twitter.com/soft_bluenicorn/status/1067844114811633665?s=21)

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to go talk to me on my Tumble [@not-majestic-bluenicorn](http://not-majestic-bluenicorn.tumblr.com) and on my Twitter [@soft_bluenicorn](http://www.twitter.com/soft_bluenicorn)!


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